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12/29/2011

Hi everyone! New Year is near and werewolves are coming! Big Fish Games Studios releasing new game from the Shadow Wolf Mysteries game series, created by the ERS Game Studios - Shadow Wolf Mysteries 2: Bane of the Family. Just like the first game (Curse of the Full Moon) Shadow Wolf Mysteries 2 is a Hidden Object/Puzzle/Adventure game, dedicated to the werewolf's thematics. And our review will start with the gameplay video.

Great - interesting fresh story (werewolves isn't too popular thematics for the casual games), nice graphics (I liked face-animation of the game characters, really wonderful grass and weather effects, nicely animated animals) and interesting puzzles. I suppose Shadow Wolf Mysteries 2: Bane of the Family will be a real discovery of this month. But lets talk about game more concretely.

In Shadow Wolf Mysteries: Curse of the Full Moon game was started from the series of the fearless murders in a once quiet village. You were playing as a detective, whose task was to investigate these murders. You found out, that murders are committed by the werewolf and not because he is crazy psycho - just when the full moon is in the sky, he cannot control the blood thirst in his veins. Game was continuing for about 3-4 hours, you was traveling across half-deserted village, trying to discovery the identity of the werewolf. Game was good, but had a few minor cons like unnecessary backtracking, and sometimes, confusing hidden object naming.

But the storyline was really interesting, you was attempting to collect evidence of werewolf existence and trying to see his real human face. Unfortunately, character's voices weren't so good, especially the girl's voice. Gameplay was usual, you was collecting items to use them later elsewhere. Shadow Wolf Mysteries: Curse of the Full Moon game wasn’t perfect, but was enjoyable where it counts. Anyway, this review isn't about the first part, to know more go here.

Second part, Bane of the Family, corrected the mistakes and cons of the first one. Voices here is much more dramatic and intensional, and Hidden items naming is close to perfectу. Graphics, as you may see from the gameplay video and screens, is also much improved, so you may just walk around and have pleasure of a beautiful landscapes. Storyline is also becomes better - in the Curse of the Full Moon your antagonist was murderer, evil werewolf, the beast. Now the werewolf is a beautiful woman and your heart will be on her side even if you don't want it that way.

Shadow Wolf Mysteries: Bane of the Family Game actions happening on the sunlight and at night, in the mountains and near the sea. All you can see is very gorgeous and beautiful. Once again you are returning to the De la Fer mansion as a private detective. You will explore the mansion, trying to find out, is there really a werewolf here (of course he's here!). But this time werewolf is a woman and a young girl too. Little Veronica. It's hard to change a grown-up, whose whole life came under the curse of the full moon, who is already tasted blood. But innocent child, whose soul is pure and clean, who's for now turning only in a funny teen-wolf. She can be saved and she must be saved!

It isn't going to be easy, of course. Curse was put on the Count family many years ago, and only one powerful elixir can remove it. Story won't going to scare you, but instead it includes lot of surprises. You may remember Veronica, the girl I was talking about earlier, from the first part of the game. But in Shadow Wolf Mysteries 1 she was playing only a tiny role, this time everything is different. She is terribly sick and if you won't concoct needed elixir in a short time, she will be dead. Of course, it didn't make the game so scary as, for example, Redemption Cemetery: Children's Plight, but I wouldn't call the story of Bane of the Family boring, absolutely not.

Your avatar will explore De la Fer estate completely (estate isn't small, so it will take some time to do it). And all this mess - elixir finding, whole werewolf thing - started only with old strange town legend about werewolves! And now Veronica is dying, her mother - beautiful red-haired countess De la Fer - is the werewolf and someone wreaking havoc across the whole town. Track down a lupine criminal, find a cure for this cursed affliction, you are the only one who can make things right!
Is Veronica really doomed to be a werewolf, to kill human beings under the full moon? It's up to you! Save Veronica from the Bane of the Werewolf!

As usual, inside the Collector's Edition of Shadow Wolf Mysteries: Bane of the Family you can find:
1. Wallpapers. Really nice, but many usual screenshots from the game can be not worse.
2. Integrated Strategy Guide. Usual, detailed, with pictures... You seen one, you seen them all.
3. Bonus gameplay - the most interesting part. You will explore new locations around De la Fer estate, it may take up to two hours. Really good part of any CE, including this one.
4. Screensavers. Nice, but mostly you can do the same yourself by mixing the screenshots you made earlier :)
5. Concept art. Not everything the artists create was realized in the game, so some pictures are interesting.
6. Soundtrack. There are many enough songs to pay for it.

Technically speaking, this new game from ERS Game Studios is great. Story, gameplay, sounds, music, graphics - everything is as close to perfection as possible. Will Shadow Wolf Mysteries: Bane of the Family game become successful? I don't know, I'm not a prophet. But usually the games I like bring pleasure to many other gamers to, and this game I really liked. So if you are interesting in werewolves thematics try it and you won't be disappointed. Good luck!

12/25/2011

Hello, my dear, dear friends! Sunday has come and it's Christmas time! Usually every company wants to put under your Christmas tree something bright, kind and funny, like comedy movie, smile-bringer toy and so on. But Big Fish Games Studios will break those stereotypes! More blood and gore on Christmas!!!
Of course I'm just kidding, but not without reason. Just before Christmas Big Fish Games released it's newest Hidden Object, Adventure, Puzzle game - Brink of Consciousness: Dorian Gray Syndrome Collector's Edition. And what do you think? It's the detective thriller about maniac, who is kidnapping young girls! Full of Christmas spirit, isn't it?
But let's review this game and we will start with the gameplay video.

Brink of Consciousness: Dorian Gray Syndrome Video is pretty standard for HOG (nothing Christmas-like, of course). Animated game scenes, charismatic characters and big spooky mansion to explore. Your every step is watched by a sadistic foe, your girlfriend is in grave danger, deadly traps are all around you... Did I miss something? Don't think so. But lets move straight and start from the very beginning.

Once upon a time there was a guy. And this guy was ugly, at least he supposed so. So he start to hide his face under the mask over and over again. And when he is masked, he can do anything, and nobody can see him.
The main problem for this strange man when he grew up is relationships with others. There is many young and handsome boys and girls around, and our masked man hated them, hated them all.

And now Brink of Consciousness: Dorian Gray Syndrome game has begun. Your protagonist, Sam Wilde, is a young and successful journalist. He has all what man can only dream of - great interesting job with high salary, hot pretty girl - Anna, his beloved one, good house. But redactor gives Sam a task, that will change his life forever.

Already few month something strange happening in this usually so quiet town. Young men and beautiful women disappearing without the trace. Sam must find out, why this is happening and where can he find the missing people.

Police has no clue about it, so Sam starts his own journalist's investigation. Using his sharp mind, Wilde discovering, that all disappearances are connected. All victims were very handsome and young. Looks like some maniac envied to their beauty and kidnapped them. Maybe he torn their faces apart, or just removed them with the scalpel and put on his own face. Who knows? What twisted brink of consciousness can even think about it, not speaking about doing it!
But the problem has appear: maniac watched how Sam was looking for answers. And now, when Wilde is find out the horrible truth, psychopath kidnapped his own fiancée, Anna. If Sam will tell anyone about this psycho or go to the police - his girlfriend will die.

Maniac leaves Sam a message: if he won't go to the old abandoned mansion deep in the woods in a short notice, Anna will die. So Wilde has no choice: journalist moves to the mansion and the doors closing after him without a chance to be opened once again. Deadly game of Brink of Consciousness: Dorian Gray Syndrome has begun!
You will explore this old house, using your journalist skills to collect all necessary info about the maniac's identity and the place, where he is holding Anna. But this isn't going to be simple: mansion is full of deadly traps and psycho watches your every move, trying to interfere and kill you. Life and death of Sam and Anna is in your hands now and the distance between living and agony is really slightest.

Brink of Consciousness: Dorian Gray Syndrome Collector's Edition complectation is not completely standard: Integrated Strategy guide, one Bonus chapter with a few new rooms of the maniac's mansion, wallpapers, musical soundtrack and funny Oscar's comic strip (IMHO, very strange choice for the game about crazy psycho). Also this Collector's Edition includes the interview with the game developers, I can't see for whom it may come in handy.
Beware: while you exploring the trap filled mansion, don't forget to watch your back as often as you can: maybe the masked man is behind you! Discover the maniac's darkest secrets, find out the horrible truth about his unholy doings with kidnapped people, help Sam to rescue his love Anna!

Summing up, Brink of Consciousness: Dorian Gray Syndrome game is very good. It may be too gray and dark for someone's taste, but this gamma shows the reflection of the psycho's mind, adding a lot to the game atmosphere. Storyline is unusually good for a HOG, sound and graphics are good, game videos too, some gaming moments can make you nervous. And hallelujah, there is no ghosts, any ghosts at all!

Maybe if it wasn't Christmas time, my rating could be even higher, but for now we have what we have. Good luck!

12/22/2011

Hi there. And once again Thursday come in and game with ghosts has just begin. Big Fish Games Studios released new Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game, created by Alawar/Five.BN Games - House of 1000 Doors: Family Secrets Collector's Edition. And we will start this overview with the gameplay video (quite usual for my blog, yeah?).

House of 1000 Doors: Family Secrets Collector's Edition Game is about ghosts. Lots of ghosts. Again. In my last post I already wrote about ghosts's siege of the HOG genre and new about-ghosts-games are still arrives. I'm really bored of this. But what can we done? Nothing.

I suppose, this is caused by the next: some time ago Hidden Object/Adventure games about ghosts suddenly becomes popular. Gamers all over the world actively started to download and play this kind of games. Game developers noticed this tendency and start to develop more games about ghosts.

For a time people liked it, they bought and played new and new casual games, just like House of 1000 Doors: Family Secrets. And at last that was enough about-ghosts-games but new ones was releasing over and over again. Now when most casual gamers see new HOG about ghosts, they say: "What?! Ghosts again?"

All of the above didn't mean that House of 1000 Doors: Family Secrets is a bad game, it's not true. This game could be priceless, if only it was released year ago. Or at least half of a year. Now House of 1000 Doors loosing huge part of it's audience because of the thematics. But I may understand the developers: when you did the biggest part of the game it has no sense to stop the development, even if the trend is over already.

But let's talk about House of 1000 Doors: Family Secrets itself. Your avatar is Kate Reed, a young author, an articles writer. One day strange thing happens: Kate received the invitation to took part in the classes of the School of Spiritism. And the strangest thing was that typewriter typed the invitation itself without any human involved. There among the other psychics and mediums Kate were summoning the spirits of the dead, communicate with them and do her best to help them.

Suddenly for other teachers and students of School of Spiritism spirit of her long dead grandmother arrived and sent her a strange message. Message, that can change her life forever. Kate is going to visit a world she's never imagined!

Grandmother told Kate that there is a strange haunted building, that appears only at midnight on Badlow Island. And that is not a simple haunted house... This building is a portal, where dead and living can interact. If some spirits has an unfinished business and can't rest in peace - living can help this spirit by coming through this house with the spirit rescue mission.

And now this task is on you. Kate will solve mind-bending ancient mysteries to help the restless souls. She will discover darkest secrets of Lancaster family - owners of this haunted manor. Can you help the dead? Tasks in House of 1000 Doors: Family Secrets will be tough, for example: once lady was coming to her beloved one by the train. But he wasn't on the station - he was already dead. Soon she died too but both become ghosts because of that unsuccessful meeting. You must restore the situation to let them meet on the station and rest in peace at last.

Just as usual, House of 1000 Doors: Family Secrets Collector's edition includes:

Bonus gameplay. I ended it in about an hour. Not much, but not boring too.

Summing up, House of 1000 Doors: Family Secrets Collector's Edition isn't a bad game. Why House of 1000 Doors wasn't released a year earlier? It may have much better rating.

Gameplay is interesting, puzzles are variate and good, story isn't completely boring. But I may recommend this game only to the players, who loves ghosts thematics. Others can find better things to do. Good luck!

12/18/2011

Hello, friends. Today is unusual Sunday. In a usual Sunday Big Fish Games releases new Collector's edition of a Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure game. But not today. Today Big Fish released Collector's Edition of Time Management game - Royal Envoy 2! But if we will look more closely, we will see, that there is nothing strange in such decision: Royal Envoy 2 is on of the greatest Time Management games and worth buying for $ 13.99! But let's first watch gameplay video.

You see it now? Royal Envoy 2 Game is really fun and dynamic, giving any fan of Time Management games tons of pleasure. Game mechanics is very flexible, allowing you to win the game by various ways, creating different production lines. Of course, it's hard to see all of this from this video, but it shows the most important thing for any game - gameplay. And in Royal Envoy 2 gameplay is really great. But let's review this game closely.

It's time to team up with Cedric once again, repeating the story of your success from the Royal Envoy 1. Once you build lots of nice towns and now, when the king find out that one of his kingdom's provinces, Middleshire devastated due to the poor management and negligence of its rulers, he offering you to take it under your command and restore the normal life there. It won't be easy: locations in Royal Envoy 2 are various, and every locations has it's own limitations and benefits, that causing you to change your winning strategy. Will you take the king's challenge again?

In the game you will interact with a host of zany characters (non-playing, of course). Some of them are well-known to the fans of Royal Envoy game series, but many others are absolutely new. Game contains 63 unique levels (+30 additional levels for Collector's Edition only) and 30 bonus challenges, that will let you consumed for many-many hours. Also Royal Envoy 2 game has over 60 achievements to unlock, some of them are really challenging (not so hard as to beat Enigma in Batman: Archam City, bat isn't easy either). 9 beautiful islands must be rebuilded from the ruins, caused by bad management fo you preccessor and some natural disasters like volcano eruption.

You may also notice, if you once played Royal Envoy 1, that game mechanics has significantly changes and I may say, changes to better. There are also two New game modes (night mode, when you need lights to show the way for your citizen and buildings and fog mode where part of the map firstly hidden under the fog of war and you can't prognosis, what buildings are hidden). Moreover, Royal Envoy 2 has lot of new challenging quests, that will suit even the most demanding player.

For some quests you will need to play various mini-games, for example, fishing game: you are sending your people into the river/ocean and if the place was chosen right and skills are high enough, you may catch a lot. But my most liked mini-game is a snow fight - two teams are arranging snowball fight, using obstacles and snow fortresses. This mini-game is very like wonderful old flash-game with snowball fights - very dynamic and fun. Collector's edition also includes 8 bonus quests, unavailable for Standard Edition buyers.

And don't think that funny means easy: your task wouldn't be simple. Rebuilding the villages and towns nears the volcano, on the sea coast and deep in the mountains, exploring giant underground caves and caverns, restoring long forgotten mines back to work - all of that will cause you sweat. In the night you need lights, in a desert - lot of wells, in a forest - huge sawmill. You will also meet many mystical creatures like nymphs, unicorns and leprechauns, and not all of those creatures will be friendly, some may cause you trouble. The fog, creating one of the most exciting new game modes, is coming from the depths of the forest and is caused by some magic too.

You will grow trees, food, build huge variety of homes and buildings, and, what is so actual in December, you will need to plant a New Year's Palm! And you must remember: your people aren't robots, they want to have fun just like you do. So if your management will make them unhappy, they won't work efficient. Make your people happy and achieve serious bonuses for it! You must rescue the people of Middleshire from the consequences of actions of the previous rulers and build a little 9-island-paradise!

I will be brief now: Royal Envoy 2 is absolutely must have for any Time Management gamer. If you never played any Time Management game - start with Royal Envoy 2. If you don't like Time Management and Strategy - try Royal Envoy 2 - maybe you tastes will change. Practically perfect.